Thank you, Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I am going to start off by saying that the experience and education that elders bring to, for example, schools and to communities is invaluable.

Mr. Speaker, the income assistance program is set up to meet the monthly needs of residents of the Northwest Territories. It does that by looking at what those basic needs are, to make sure that residents can meet their basic needs. It minuses from that any income that they might need. It adds to that the income exemptions that are available and then determines what the financial needs are from the Government of the Northwest Territories. It's not intended to be a universal basic income. It is set up to meet the monthly needs of a resident of the territory and to ensure that they have access to the finances that they require to do that. And so if somebody is able to do some work and earn some income on their own, then there is a certain amount of that that they can keep. And we were able, in the life of this Assembly, to increase the amount of money that a resident of the territory can earn and can keep without seeing that, you know, come off their monthly income from income assistance. But even so, we want to ensure that we are meeting residents' monthly needs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question is, why is the Minister counting transfers from constituents' bands intended to support treatment and aftercare and travel home as income, disqualifying them from income assistance, when they are the most vulnerable at that point? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would want to be able to follow up particularly with the Member's constituency. It sounds like an instance that's specific to an individual. But if somebody, you know, has support, for example, to travel to and from treatment, income assistance does still support them with their monthly needs while they are away. In addition to that, income assistance exempts income from self-government agreements, treaty agreements, land claim agreements, as well as impact benefit agreements, compensation from residential school settlements, Indian day school settlements, and 60s Scoop settlements, agriculture benefits, and other unearned monies from Indigenous governments as well, and also excludes income that's intended for children.

I have had residents and constituents myself who have gone away to treatment, so if there is a specific issue the Member would like to discuss I am happy to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question to the Minister is, why is the Minister providing little flexibility for my constituents struggling with wage garnishing, judging them solely on their income, and failing to support them when it's clear that they are in serious need of financial assistance? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the income assistance program is very legislated and so what can be provided as far as benefits and supports to residents is found within the legislation, and we have to ensure that we are applying that legislation fairly to all residents of the Northwest Territories. It is a program that is intended to ensure that residents' monthly needs are met. So, for example, that residents have shelter and they have access to heat and they have access to food. And so that is the intention of the program and how it is designed. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral Questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ECE.

Mr. Speaker, government bodies and agencies considered to be under the remit of the Archives Act are identified in related regulations. Can the Minister tell me if there are any punitive measures under consideration when those government bodies and agencies do not provide records within 30 years of creation as required currently by Section 5(1) of the Archives Act? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for homework to review the Archives Act, and luckily it is a few pages long. It's not like some of our other legislation of the territory.

So Section 10 of the Act details the punitive measures that can be pursued should records be unlawfully damaged, mutilated, or withheld, and these measures include summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both. I will say, though, Mr. Speaker, from education, culture and employment, we, of course, choose education first, and so our goal is to educate and promote the preservation and transfer of records and so we have not pursued punitive measures under Section 10 of the Act. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell me if any electronic records created and filed in the GNWT's Digital Integrated Information Management System, otherwise known as DIIMS, have been transferred to the custody of the NWT Archives since DIIMS was implemented? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, as a whole of government, we have some homework to do in this case. So when DIIMS was created, it did not include the creation of a mechanism to transfer files from DIIMS to the NWT Archives for review and then permanent preservation. Luckily, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is working quite closely with the Department of Finance on this to ensure it is addressed, and they are working currently on a business case for a digital record connector. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell me whether the NWT Archives will, as final repository for any digital records required in the future, be solely responsible for paying for storage of those records in perpetuity? Thank you. Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was recently at a conference where somebody said data is the new oil. So data does not come cheap, Mr. Speaker, and I can confirm for the Member there will certainly be a cost to this, but this cost would not be only worn by education, culture and employment as this would be an all-of-government responsibility. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member's statement regarding the long-term care facility in Inuvik and the planning for it, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can she kind of give us an update on what's now being done to advance this project through the planning stages and where we are, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we, in the fall -- and I believe I briefed the Member -- or sorry, just in December where we were at, and the concern that I had was the operation of where the long-term care changes and having a conversation at the NTHSSA level with operations there were some concerns brought forward, so we had those conversations. And so the expectation was to have that RFP for schematic and design out within -- before February/March. So I am just checking with my department. They haven't followed up with me yet to confirm that date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that. And yes, I do recall having an update, and I was hoping that the packet of the RFP would be out for this and hopefully will be out in the very near future. So does the Minister, then, anticipate that we will have in our next capital planning budget funding in there earmarked to move forward on this project? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that with the schematic and design going out now, for that work to conclude won't be in time for this capital budget consideration but it would be completed for the next capital budget consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, and thank you for that. Is there any anticipation, Mr. Speaker, that in light of my Member's statement I talked about working with -- at one point, the proposal was to work with Indigenous governments potentially owning and leasing this building or a couple of alternatives. Is there still any conversations at the department level of potentially working with Indigenous governments on this, or is this going to be a GNWT project? Thank you.